Mermaid
by writtergirl16
Summary: After a stalker supposedly takes Stephanie's life, Ranger and a few of the Merry Men are in Miami having just finished rapping up loose ends, and Ranger is starting to act weird. Does he know something the others don't?
1. Chapter 1

**So a couple of things to know before you read-**

**1. This is my first Fanfic... ever... so constructive criticism is appreciated but I would prefer no outright insults **

**2. This is inspired by the song Mermaid by Train... I dont know where it came from but this was all I could think about when I first heard the song**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing**

Ranger zipped up his duffle bag, grabbed the file on the desk and headed to the elevator. Even with the air conditioning, the Miami air was humid and hot. He passed Tank, Lester and Bobby on his way to the elevator.

"Hey bossman, I don't know if now the time to be going anywhere," Tank started but Ranger ignored him, entering the elevator with the 3 men trailing after him.

"Look man, I know your torn up about Steph but don't go do something stupid!" Lester said. Ranger got a small smile on his face, thinking of the information that only he knew. The guys looked at him, shocked.

"What the hell man! Steph is dead and you're smiling!" Bobby said sounding slightly pissed.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened, but not at the garage as the 3 Merry Men had expected. They stepped out on the 1st floor entrance instead. Ranger continued to ignore them and headed to the glass door, nodding at the man on desk duty.

As they reached the door, Ranger handed the file in his hand to Tank and then stepped out into the hot sun. The other men confused, scanned the first few pages of the file and Bobby voiced their question

"Why are you having us look at the file on Stephanie's asshole stalker?"

"Last page," Was rangers short reply.

As they spoke a new convertible with the top down pulled up in front of the Rangeman Miami building and stopped. Ranger pulled on his sun glasses and headed to the car. The guys, still looking at the file, said shocked " You mean she didn't really die!?"

It was at this point that they looked up and focused on the driver of the car. She had curly brown hair and was wearing a white female button down with a bikini top visible underneath it. Her skin was tanned and pair of brown aviator sunglasses matching Rangers were covering her eyes. The Merry Men recognized her with a jolt. It was Bombshell!

Ranger dumped his duffle in the back seat and jumped in the passenger side, sitting down then pulling his Babe to him, giving her a quick but hot kiss. They both pulled away smiling, then Steph turned her smile to the dumbfounded merry men standing curb side, smiled at them brightly, giving them her signature finger wave, saying "See you next week!"

Then she accelerated the car away from the curb, pointing it towards the beach house that had been her refuge for the past 2 weeks while the Merry Men and her Batman had hunted the stalker that had "killed" her by blowing up her apartment. Luckily, her own personal Batman pulled her out of her burning bedroom, then put her on the Rangeman jet with him to Miami. He stashed her in the Batcave until it was safe for her to be alive again, and while she had enjoyed the beach, she was ready for some time with her own Cuban Sex God. And you never know, they could actually make it back to Trenton next week.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to all of you who review last chapter! Since it was a request from all of you, here is the next chapter!**

**Please Review! I need feedback so I know what you want!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter 2

Stephanies POV

Today was the day. The day I officially came back from the dead. Whew boy was I not looking forward to this. Sure I missed everyone tons and am looking forward to seeing their reactions, but I also knew that some people would be less than pleased at my lying to them about such a major thing like my death. In my defense, it wasn't my idea. I just didn't raise any objections when Ranger drove us to a private airport and put us on a plane to Miami. If people are looking for someone to blame, I would personally blame my latest stalker, Alec Donati.

Flashback:

Unlike my usual stalkers, he was actually well versed when it came to terrorizing people, and it turned out that I was just lucky number 4 on his list of victims. After weeks of close calls and the occasional trip to the ER, I finally agreed to stay in Rangeman while we tried to track him. I made a quick stop at my apartment to pick up a few things, asking Ranger to wait in the car. I still don't know how I got him to wait and not check out my apartment for boogie men like he usually does. Probably it was because he had stationed Merry Men there all day on surveillance to make sure Donati didn't make an appearance or maybe it was the Bambi eyes I gave him, but for whatever reason he choose not to come up to my apartment with me. In the end, that was probably my saving grace, because when I walked into my apartment, I trigged some sort of bomb and the next thing I knew my apartment was engulfed by flames. Somehow Ranger was able to use my fire escape to get up the burning building and into my apartment. He scooped me up like I weighed nothing and was able to get us safely to the ground. Apparently he had an epiphany because he the next thing I knew he had put me in the back seat of his Turbo, told me to lay still and be quiet because we were going to pretend I was dead.

Now, I know a normal person with a normal life and a safe job would probably have asked him if he had lost his ever loving mind, but I was just too tired and not thinking clearly to really object. Hours later after the police and everyone had cleared out, he hopped back in the car and drove us out of Trenton to a small private airstrip out closer to the Pine Barrens. Ranger called Tank, telling him that he was offline until further notice. Tank didn't question it because he was under the impression that Ranger was grieving for me. 3 hours later we touched down in Miami, got into a black car that I am assuming is from Rangers seemingly endless supply of expensive black cars, and headed for the Batcave.

(End Flashback)

Looking back on the experience, it was a little surreal having only one person who knows that you are actually alive. Come to think of it, it will probably be A LOT of fun seeing people's reactions to me the first time I step foot in any 'Burg related place.

As I was lost in thought, Ranger came awake next to me, and a mocha latte arm reached out and pulled me back to his side, encasing me in his arms.

"I smell something burning," He said in a husky, sleep filled voice " What are you thinking about, Babe?"

"Nothing too exciting, just what the Burgs reaction will be when they see me alive and kickin'" I summarized, leaving my momentary flashback out for the moment. His arm tightened around me at my words.

"Babe, don't worry too much about what the Burg thinks. I know for a fact that the men have missed you terribly, and will be over joyed to know that you are still with us," He told me, " The building hadn't been as quiet and full of tension since the suspected leak, and even then some of the men cracked jokes every once in a while."

I knew the Merry Men would miss me. We had all gotten closer since I had started working for Rangeman after I broke up with Joe, and I got even closer with the Core Team when Ranger and I finally decided to make our relationship official. No, what I was worried about was the non Rangeman reactions. I thought Lula and Connie would be happy to see me, and then be clamoring for me to fill them in on what had happened; Vinnie would probably say something about bleeding money and tell me that the next time I planned a fake death, find someone to fill in for me. Sally Sweet and my other friends I met through Bond Enforcement would be fairly happy to see me, well that is until I told them I had to take them back to jail, but that was another issue.

The reaction I was most worried about was my families. My Mother would say something along the lines of "Sue Ann Grebek doesn't fake her own death!" and then go take a shot of bourbon asking "What will the neighbors think?" Daddy will probably hug me and return to watching the game and Grandma will want to know what Ranger and I got up to at the Batcave. What does it say when I can almost predict exactly what people will say when they find out I'm not dead?

"Babe I hate to interrupt your internal monologue but we have to leave for the airport soon and I know you want to shower before the plane ride." Ranger said, pulling me from my thoughts.

Stretching, I got out of bed and wandered over to the bathroom. I hardly even noticed that I was naked. It seemed like whenever I got into bed with Ranger, no matter what I was wearing, it was always missing by the time I got up. I did my business then turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature, when Ranger said from the doorway,

"Do you need any help Babe? You know I'm good in the shower."

"Thanks Batman but I think I got it this time," I replied, knowing that if we got in the shower together, we would miss our flight.

Reading my thoughts he said, "The plane won't leave without us Babe, since we are its only passengers."

'He raises a good point' I thought, though I have to say, my quick change of heart had less to do with his logic, and more to do with him invading my personal space for a long, hot kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

**So a few notices this chapter:**

**I do plan to update more often, but I am having some health problems and I have an physical therapy schedule that I have to work around as well as other doctor appointments so at the moment I can't tell you a strict schedule, just that I will do my best to get at least one chapter per week up**

**This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but it is the Plum reunion so I hope that makes up for it**

**Thank you everyone again for your support of the story! I appreciate every review more than I can say! They make my day!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

After arriving back in Jersey, the first stop we decided to make was my parents' house and as we pulled up in front of the house I felt myself tense up.

'Calm yourself, Stephanie' I thought, 'It doesn't matter what they think, and they most likely missed you.'

But the doubt still lingered in the back of my mind. Even if I had made many improvements in my life until the whole Donati ordeal, old habits die hard. I was training and working full time with the Rangemen, living with my own personal Batman, and avoiding my mother and the Burg. But sometimes I still was insecure, and my mother still found ways to get under my skin. She hadn't approved of Ranger, and I don't think my death will have brought any warm, positive feelings about him to her.

Ranger was watching the thoughts flying across my face and squeezed my hand.

"Can we fly back to Miami?" I asked, feeling like a trip to denial land. "We could put this off another few weeks," _Or forever _I thought, but I am fairly certain I didn't say it out loud.

"Babe if we go back now, we won't ever come back," Ranger reasoned, "And as much as I liked having you to myself all the time, I am worried we might kill each other." The last part he said with a small Ranger smile.

He did raise a good point, and I knew he was absolutely right about us never coming back. It was now or never. I took a deep breath and opened the car door, blinking from the sudden bright light. I saw my mother and grandmother standing at the door, staring at me in opened mouthed shock. I saw my Grandma yell for my Dad while we walked up to the door and watched as he appeared from around the corner, taking a similar expression to that of my Mom and Grandma Mazur.

We reached the door and Grandma opened it because Mom was still standing in the same place. Grandma pulled me into a surprisingly tight hug for her age, but I was soon pulled into my dad's arms.

"Pumpkin you are still alive?!" my Dad asked, with a mixture of disbelief and shock evident in his voice.

"Yeah Daddy, surprise!" I joked, trying to lighten the situation some. My family is not normally a very demonstrative family, and all this hugging was making me feel like I was in Freaky Friday.

My Mom had yet to move so I slowly moved towards her, tentatively taking a step towards her. My movement seemed to break her out of her shock and she pulled me into a quick but tight hug. Of course, her shock was soon gone and she was starting in on me.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum, how could you fake your own death? Sue Ann Grebek's daughter doesn't fake her own death! All your friends have been mourning for 2 weeks and all the arrangements have been made for a memorial service! What will we do now? I already had a place booked for the service and-"

At this point I thought it was a good time to point out that my fake death had probably saved my very real life, and I was about to say something when Grandma spoke up.

"Helen, stop being such a horses rear end and be happy that your daughter is alive! This creeper of hers could have actually killed her but instead she was saved! By the way, Grandbaby, who did save you? Was it Ranger here? Boy does he have a nice package on him!"

This was a question I had been trying to avoid because in all honesty, I didn't see my family taking too kindly to the fact Ranger had known I was alive and had kept that key piece of information to himself. Ranger picked this time to speak for the first time since we had entered the house.

"I did Ms. Mazur, but I felt it was safer for Stephanie to keep the fact she was alive to herself, just so her stalker did not somehow get a hold of the information."

"Young man, are you saying we could not be trusted?" My mother asked in a slightly shrill voice, still recovering from being called a horse's rear end by Grandma.

"Of course not Mrs. Plum, I just wanted to take all precautions in keeping your daughter safest. We told no one that she was alive, not even my men. They only found out a little before you did, and that was because I needed they're help completing the paperwork the police needed. You are the first stop we have made since we landed." I noticed he kept our week long mini vacation to himself. That piece of information did not need to be known by my parents. Ever.

"Well I guess it's alright then," My mother said, sounding unsure, "Would you like to stay for desert? I have pineapple upside down cake." That had me sold right there. Even if it meant a slight guilt trip, I got cake out of it. And I did just die, the least I could do was stay for desert.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here is the next chapter! This one is extra-long because I was feeling generous today!**

**Thank you to those of you who reviewed! I would love the rest of you to review too!**

**This chapter is a Merry Men chapter and has Rangers POV at the end so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Jay **

Stephanie's POV-

We finished up a slightly hostile dessert at my parents' house and decided it was time to call it a night. I could visit the Bonds Office girls tomorrow and I had already called Mary Lou to schedule lunch later in the week. Ranger drove us back to Rangeman, holding my hand the whole time. I was not near as nervous about this reunion, I knew the Merry Men had missed me, but I still felt a little nervous, the biggest reason being worrying they would never let me leave the Rangeman building again, but I knew Ranger would sneak me out. A short 10 minutes later we were pulling into one of Rangers reserved spaces in the underground garage.

Ranger opened my door and helped me out, pulling me into a kiss that took my breath away. When he pulled back, he looked at the unfocused look in my eyes, smirking as he said,

"Ready, babe?"

"As I'll ever be," I said, taking a deep breath to re-focus my brain. We headed to the elevator and assumed our usual position of my back to his front. When the doors were opened, I was engulfed in a Merry Man's arms. I didn't figure out who it was until he leaned down in my ear and whispered, in his slight Irish accent,

"Aoife, if you ever scare me like that again, I will lock you in Rangeman and take away all your Tasty Cakes,"

"Jay, if you even think of doing that, I will kick you in the balls so hard you will never be able to reproduce," I said in a sickly sweet voice, sounding innocent, despite what I just said.

Jay pulled back and looked at me, a smile playing across his face. Jay was a fairly new Rangeman who had started the same time I did and we ended up becoming partners. He was ex- Air Force special ops and had worked with Ranger, Lester, Bobby and Tank in the past. Turns out, all the branches Special Ops teams work together on major jobs, which is how almost all the Merry Men knew each other. We had grown close over the past months, especially so during the Donati ordeal, but he hadn't known I was alive until Ranger told the other Merry Men. My Irish partner had light brown hair and brown eyes, tanned skin and the body of a god. Of course, every Merry Man had the body of god so that must be a standard to work here.

Before he could respond I was pulled into Lester's arms. I could tell it was him because his hands started at the top of my back, but moved down to just above my ass. Ranger barked from behind me,

"Santos, if you don't move your hands back up, they will no longer be attached to your body!"

He let me go and after that I was passed from Merry Man to Merry Man, all telling me they were glad I was alive and that if I ever did that again they would do differing horrid things to me. I assured all of them I was fine and eventually Ranger announced that we were going back up to seven. Lester, Bobby, and Jay made a few noises of protest, but one glare from Ranger silenced them.

When Ranger and I got up to the apartment, I turned and asked,

"How bad was it?"

He sighed and said I can't even describe it, Babe, it was like every single one of them had lost their best friend." Shaking his head slightly, a sad look crossing his face, "Lester, Bobby, and Jay were the worst."

That made sense; the three of them were my closest friends at Rangeman. Lester and Bobby had done most of my training when I had started full time at Rangeman, and Jay was my partner, and we had a connection that I didn't have with the other guys. It was nothing like mine and Rangers, but he had grown to become one of my best friends.

"I feel bad about this whole thing," I began, "I don't even want to imagine what it had to be like for you, knowing that I was alive but not able to tell them. Looking back on it, why couldn't we tell them?" I asked, honestly curious. There was not a doubt in my mind that the Merry Men would keep my secret, they always did. It was one of the things I liked most about them. They had no connection to the 'Burg grapevine, so they didn't have a reason to spread my personal life or secrets around.

"Babe, I do too, but I couldn't risk someone letting it slip, or someone not from Rangeman figuring it out somehow. It was really hard at times, but what I told myself was that it was to keep you safe, and that was how I was able to get through it. I can't lose you, Babe." He had a slightly desperate look in his eye when he finished, making me understand how much he meant what he was saying.

"I understand, Ranger, and I feel the same way. It's just hard to justify it to myself at times, but I understand why we did it the way we did."

"I know, Babe, but let's forget about that now. Do you want to watch TV before we go to bed?" He asked. I was glad we were moving on from this topic of conversation, there was only so much of this I could talk about without getting too sad.

"No, I think I'm ready to go to bed, it's been a long day" I explained, stifling a yawn as I spoke. Ranger pulled me to him and kissed me lightly on the lips,

"Okay, Babe, I'll be in in a few, I want to check something first." He said, guiding me toward the bedroom.

**Rangers POV**

While Babe got ready for the night, I walked into my office, shutting the door quietly. I picked up the phone on my desk and called Tank.

"Yeah," He answered.

"I'm just checking in, everything good?" I wanted to make sure nothing had popped up about the Donati case. I knew he would never be able to bother Steph again (I made sure of it,) but I wanted to make sure no relatives have come out of the wood work.

"No, all good here. Do you know when you will be down tomorrow?" He asked, and I knew immediately why he was asking, but tried bluffing anyway.

"Paper work that bad?"

"No worse than usual but there is a signup sheet going around the men on who al is taking you to the matt's." I knew that would be the case, but I couldn't help but try to deny it. Steph was rubbing off on me.

"I'll be down normal time," I said and hung up, I started thinking about when I told the guy's Babe was dead. It had been a horrible day.

_Flashback:_

_I walked out onto five to find it deathly quiet, all the men looking at me as if hoping I would tell them that it wasn't true, that she wasn't dead, and that this was just some bad joke that they would laugh at in a few years. I knew that she wasn't dead, but I also knew that I couldn't tell them that. I trusted these men with my life but I just couldn't take the risk. I would have to lie to them and I would hate every second of it._

_Tank, Lester, Bobby and Jay walked over to me, and I could see pain though their attempt at a blank face._

"_Please tell me us not true," Bobby asked, his voice cracking slightly._

_I simply shook my head, looking down. I felt the tension in the room grow, feel the pain coming off the guys in waves. All these men had seen some of the worst things in this world, and yet one girls death would hurt them more than any of the other things they had seen ever would. It was the hardest thing I ever did to keep quiet; I would prefer a third world country over this. _

_(End Flashback)_

I heard Babe finish in the bathroom and I left the office, walking toward our bedroom. I just hoped the men would separate days, because I wasn't sure if I would be able to move the next day if they all took their anger out on me in one day.


End file.
